Your Stories

19th August - Milton, miles and miserable pub

13th September is less than a month away now and I guess it's time to step up the training. Just over 13 miles is the distance on the day and I notched up just over eight in an hour-and-a-half run yesterday.

Stretching properly can reduce stitch

Unfortunately I couldn't take part in the Milton Fun Run Sunday because of best man duties in Aberdeenshire. Needless to say I did plenty of running around non-the-less.

A couple of my colleagues, namely Jeremy Sallis and sport presenters Alex Harris and Peter Swan did do their bit in Milton though.

They helped raise some money although certain pubs along the route wouldn't let the fundraising fun continue in their establishments - so when we move buildings to Cowley Road in a couple of months we know where we won't be having our after work drinks.

I took out an MP3 player with me for the first time in a while on my eight mile journey yesterday, for those of you who care I listened to Emmy the Great and the Fleet Foxes. Yet to decide whether I should do the real thing assisted by music.

You can see my route on the map below.

My 8.2 mile route around Cambridge

30th July - Running home

You may or may not know that BBC Cambridgeshire is moving home later this year. We'll be upping sticks from where we've been living on Hills Road for the last 27 years and heading over to the Cowley Business Park on Milton Road.

Having only seen photos of the new gaff I decided to target my run towards its general direction. I could only press my face against the glass like a child eyeing up a jar of sticky rhubarb and custards but it was worth the effort.

Our new home as of later this year

The new building is much more public friendly, you can see what's going on in the studios from the car park so when we present programmes we'll be fully on show. I may have to stop doing Saturday Sport in my pants.

With my need for knowledge satisfied I wiped my sweat off the window and hit the road again, this time towards Milton Country Park.

Please don't judge me but, in the two and a half years I've lived in Cambridge I've never entered Milton Country Park. I'm very disappointed I hadn't. Tranquil and hidden from the buzz of the city it was a joy to run through.

Milton Country Park Visitor Centre

The journey was made even better when I popped out on Fen Road and ended up back in Chesterton by way of the River Cam tow-path.

5.8 miles in total and a sore knee for a day afterwards, it's going to be touch and go for the 13.2 miles of the Great Cambridgeshire Run on September 13th. How are you getting on?

16th July - Change of scenery

Oh dear. As this diary will testify, I haven't been for a run for about a month. And I was doing so well.

I'll bore you with the excuses: I moved house, work's been busy and... well, that's it really. Oh, I've also had a cold.

So, complete with the sniffles, I jogged out with my girlfriend Ana last night. We've moved from the Newmarket Road side of the river to the Chesterton side, which means I can pretty much keep my routes the same.

St Andrew's in Chesterton

Although I did venture into the cemetery at St Andrew's church. Chesterton has some of the city's most eye pleasing buildings, which I guess would have once formed its own separate village. The church is as pretty a building as any other around.

So with the scenery set around me it was easy to notch up just over three miles: across the new Riverside bridge, through Stourbridge Common, over the Green Dragon bridge (didn't stop for a pint), in to St Andrew's cemetery and Chesterton rec, all the way to Jesus Green Lock and then back from Jesus Green via Midsummer Common, Riverside and once again over the new bridge. Phew.

Hopefully I'll stick to it now, as it's less than two months until the Great Cambridgeshire Run at Wimpole Hall. Am I ready for half a marathon? Of course I am...

18th June - Should you ever stop a running runner?

I'm getting the hang of it again now, I think. Five miles on the button reasonably comfortably. That's including having to dive past Pimms swigging students along the banks of the Cam between Stourbridge Common and Baits Bite Lock because, as I guess you know, the May Bumps were on last week.

I actually jogged past Cambridge University's boat race cox Rebecca Dowbiggin - she was on a bike and looked pretty serious. The May Bumps may sound like fun but apparently it's pretty important. I worked this out because there were lots of posh people shouting at other posh people in boats.

Plus, in a field just south of Fen Ditton, a lady stopped and asked me if I'd seen her fellow ramblers. I was red, sweaty and using almost every orifice available to take in oxygen. But I happily stood still and told her that about 20 million of her friends were just the other side of the village.

Is this the done thing though? Is it socially acceptable to stop a runner and ask them for the time, for example? Or if they know of a good Indian restaurant in the local vicinity? Perhaps their back's a little sore and would require some assistance scooping up their pooch's presents. Would you stop or keep on running? Just a thought.

Finally, my colleague Partick Davis from Look East has been mocking my wimpish attempts to notch up runs that don't get out of single figures in mileage. It's a valid point, but I feel this may be a good time to remind Patrick of what he looked like at the finish line of last year's run - the photo's above on the right.

Three months until the Great Cambridgeshire Run at Wimpole Hall - you don't have to do 13 miles remember, plenty of other smaller and slower options - join us and help raise money for the British Heart Foundation and Trustline.

13th May - A right stitch up

Stitch. I have two problems with it: One, I keep getting it. Two, when you Google 'running stitch' you get lots of information about some process called 'sewing' and nothing about why the bottom left hand corner of my rib cage feels like it's made of sandpaper.

After streamlining the terms I put into my chosen search engine ('my diaphragm's falling off') I finally found some information.

Apparently there's nothing to worry about, it's only the "stretching of the ligaments that extend from the diaphragm to the internal organs, particularly the liver." None of those bits of me are important, are they?

What doesn't add up in my instance though is that the liver's on the right and I get stitch on the left. Apparently breathing when you plant the foot on the opposite side of the pain is useful.

I also saw on a message board that one person clenches their fist really tight - whatever gets you through the day I guess.

I've upped my distances. Since you last heard from me I've done two four mile runs and walked the last mile of them. Chewing, more than and biting come to mind.

Sunday I headed down the Cam in the glorious sunshine towards Baits Bite Lock and then back again.

Monday was my day off so I hurtled along the river but in the other direction. Riverside, Midsummer Common, Jesus Green, the Backs, Lammas Land and Parker's Piece. Four miles of city and I barely left a green area. Cambridge is a truly fantastic place to live.

6th May - From Addenbrookes to Wimpole

Last year's Great Cambridgeshire Run was one of my first days back at work after my accident. I won't go into the gory details but basically my left arm kind of fell off (save a few threads of skin and vein) in a car accident in Mexico.

A few weeks in Cancun and then even more weeks in the wonderful Clinic 7 at Addenbrookes meant that my arm was rescued. Although it would be unfair to call it an arm - it's actually half arm, half leg after remarkable surgery which involved taking part of my thigh to build it all up again.

So rather than hitting the turf of Wimpole Hall for a 13.1 mile jaunt last September, I was clutching a microphone in my hands capturing the action for our radio listeners. Actually, the microphone was in one hand, because my left didn't do too much then.

Now it's time for the second BBC Cambridgeshire half marathon after the incredible success of last year, and this time it will involve me running and not working.

I won't lie - being a fit, active person before my accident made that day hard. I knew I was going to struggle to regain anything near my physical peak but I had always harboured hopes of making a late fitness burst and surprising everyone by turning up in my shorts, sweaty t-shirt and arm in sling.

What a difference a year makes though! I've just started my training regime for this year's run. Last night it consisted of watching the football and eating half a Galaxy chocolate bar - never underestimate the chocolate eating portion of training.

This morning however I hit the pavement and clocked up two miles in 20 minutes. I have the good fortune of living in a house that backs on to Stourbridge Common in Cambridge - a simply stunning place to run.

Last year I was so in awe of the scenery I lost all sense of location and found myself lost in the Fens with a sore foot (turns out I'd broken it). But the point is it's pretty.

Anyway, I'll let you know how I'm getting on and also keep you up to date with what others at the radio station are doing to prepare themselves for the half marathon. There'll be pictures, words and you can even follow me on Twitter for an even closer look.

Oh, are you doing it by the way? If not, why not? Now's the perfect time to get training and your admission fee goes to the British Heart Foundation, National Trust and Trustline. Let me know how you're getting on with the comments box below or on my Twitter.